9.20am: Good morning and welcome to another Friday of news, views and whatever you're having yourself. As always, we've got reports combing the land in search of insights and press conference outbursts and we'll share them with you as soon as possible, along with fitness updates, breaking stores, reflections and projections. Chances are the name of Sir Alex Ferguson will crop up a lot today, what with the 25th anniversary of his enthronement at Old Trafford looming. You'll be hard pressed to find anything better to read on the man today than Scott Murray's Joy of Six.

Also, today's news-stands include the latest issue of France Football, much of which is devoted to Ferguson. Among the features is an interview with Fabien Barthez about his former manager and the headline is this intriguing quote: "I think about him every morning." Obviously that incites you to read on. Turns Barthez has an almost monk-like reverence for his elder guide. "I often ask myself what he would tell me to do in this or that situation … when I was younger he would give me messages that I wasn't able to grasp, that I'm only grasping now." There were, of course, some messages that he was able to grasp at the time, such as after he conceded this goal to Real Madrid's Luis Figo at the Bernabeu. "Believe me, I've seen a lot of managers and very few of them would have done that!" says Barthezk, reasoning: "He has a visceral attachment to human values."

9.25am: Here's another excerpt from the France Football feature on Ferguson. Gérard Houllier tells this story: "In the summer of 1999 we were on our way with Liverpool to play a friendly against Wolves when my mobile phone rang. 'It's Alex ... tell me, is it true that you're going to get rid of Paul Ince?" [Houllier confirms that he is, and Ferguson replies thus] 'Listen, I'll tell you one thing. It's the best thing you've done for your club ... and for yourself.'"

9.33am: Kevin McCarra was at Celtic last night to see them keep their Europa League hopes alive and Neil Lennon's job intact. "Celtic were so short of players had to bring on 17-year-old debutant centre half Marcus Fraser at half-time last night," he tell us. "No more goals conceded in 3-1 win over Rennes. Fun night. Might not work in next game, Atletico Madrid."

9.45am: And here's the first bit of injury news for the day: Tottenham reckon William Gallas is fit enough to play against Fulham this weekend. Even more encouragingly for Spurs, Luka Modric is expected to play too despite a slight groin problem.

9.47am: More injury news: Mikel John Obi has recovered from minor back bother and will be fit for Chelsea's trip to Blackburn. So there's another chance for him to disappoint. Because let's not beat about the bush: Mikel has been a massive disappointment at Chelsea. It's not that he's played very badly, it's that he (and perhaps Jose Mourinho initially) has played in a very limited way. This was a player who before arriving at Chelsea was deemed the second best player of the World Youth Cup - behind Lionel Messi - and was a driving, creative playmaker. Since joining Chelsea for lots of money and following much legal wrangling, he has been content to be a water-carrier. Yes, his willingness to drop into the centre of defence has allowed Chelsea's full-backs to attack with abandon, but no, that is not enough from a player who had so much potential. So here's a question: how different would Mikel be now if he had fallen under the influence of Ferguson rather than Mourinho at an early age? (Not that we can blame Mourinho alone for Mikel's failure to flourish: the Special One has been long gone from Stamford Bridge and his successors have tried to coax more from Mikel but he appears too complacent to change.)

9.59am: In other news, if you're going to touch a team-mate's bottom in celebration, best not to do it in Iran. Dear oh dear.

10.04am: Interesting scenes in Dublin last night, where PAOK Salonika fans in town for their Europa League game with Shamrock Rovers held aloft banners denouncing the IMF and expressing solidarity with Greece's fellow economic casualty, Ireland (scroll down here a bit here to see a sample".

It's still something of a shock – a shameful, sorry shock – how quickly the Uruguayan has found himself to be the biggest pariah in English football.

10.44am: West Brom will have to take on Arsenal without Paul Scharner, who's suffering from knee ligament knack. Peter Odemwingie's knee has been playing up a bit this week too, but he has not been definitively ruled out.

10.46am: Some people - not me, obviously - would say that making Newcastle fans and football journalists seem stupid is very easy, but I still still reckon Mike Ashley deserves acclaim for doing so. This time last year everyone wanted him run out of Toon and now look at the club. Just look! Third in the table, unbeaten, and looking stable and slick. Among the surprises they've offered this season has been the impressive wingplay of Gabriel Obertan, who is currently in the midst of his best ever spell in professional football. At all his other clubs he has only showed flickers of talent, at Newcastle he has been a consistent threat. He won't be tomorrow, however, as he's feeling unwell, so his place for the game against Everton will likely go to Sylvain Marveaux, another of the club's recruits from Ligue 1. Cheik Tioté remains a doubt.

11.01am: Quite a line-up of candidates for the vacant managerial position at FC Bruges. Former Lyon boss Claude Puel is the latest to be linked with the job by the Belgian media, who claim that the club has already interviewed Steve McClaren and Avram Grant.

11.23am: The biggest match this weekend may well the be the first leg of the African Champions League final between the free-scoring Wydad Casablanca and the defensively-tight Espérance dTunis. Funnily enough, the Moroccan owe their place in the final in part to Esperance: Wydad seemed to have been eliminated when they lost earlier in teh tournament to TP Mazembe but Espérance noticed that the Congolese had fielded an ineligible player (they knew this because the player in question was still registered with the Tunisian club, his transfer not having been finalised) and complained. So Mazembe, African champions for the last two years, were chucked out.

11.56am: Want more on Sir Alex Ferguson? Oh. How about it if it's from Daniel Taylor? Thought so. here..

12.10pm: Afternoon all. Bagchi here, stepping in for a while for the Guardian's Cathy McGowan (ask your grandfathers), the Douglas Johnson of the desk, Mr Paul Doyle. And news is pretty thin on the ground, the only piece catching my eye in the past few minutes being Leeds's solution to the Paul Rachubka "Tangerine nightmare" episode. They've signed Reading's Alex McCarthy on loan. On the Rachubka subbing at half-time, I'm struggling to think of any other keeper hauled off for having a mare. Are there others?.

12.21pm: Decent piece on Oscar Washington Tabárez over on Sabotage Times, advocating his credentials for winning the Ballon d'Or for coach of the year when it's announced on 9 January. He makes a good case, but I still expect Pep Guardiola to walk it. Elsewhere Neil Warnock has called for the Chelsea fans singing that song about Anton Ferdinand in Belgium on Tuesday to be jailed. You're not allowed to write gaoled in the Guardian any more, sadly, as it looks far more draconian. But who would prosecute? The Belgians, presumably.

12.30pm: What larks, Joe. Here's two jokes. One from Iain Stewart, snapper extrordinaire. "Does Sean Connery like herbs? … Only partially." And from the sparkling Simon Hoggart: "Did you hear Greece has banned exports of hummus and taramasalata? They're in a double-dip recession." We're here all week.

12.39pm: Thanks to the3Red for this sacked off goalkeepers link and to James Dart and Rob Smyth. If Lehmann can recover from it, then there's hope for Rachubka I suppose. Here's Manchester United's Jonny Evans on his first meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson, part of the 25th anniversary jollies: "I had come over on trial and used to stay at the Castlefield Hotel with all the other boys. Think about how many triallists must go to United. But he came and met us. I remember my dad saying 'make sure you give him a good firm handshake'. At that point, everything we saw of him was on TV. When he did interviews I would say to my dad 'isn't he just brilliant?' Everything he said was gospel. Funnily enough, it still is!" That's the salary rise sorted, Jonny.

12.44pm: In the absence of any news from our troops in the field, the string and tin cans playing up again, here's some gold from Johnny Ashdown on the other side of this desk: "No matter how bad Steve Simonsen has been this season - and he's been very bad - he'll never get any higher than second on a Sheffield United list of all-time worst goalkeepers. That dubious honour goes to Lee Baxter, who joined the Blades on loan in 2003-04 and with Paddy Kenny out injured made his debut at Turf Moor in December 2003. After 45 minutes in which he let two howlers slip through his grasp he was replaced by 97-year-old Alan Fettis at half-time and never seen in a United shirt again."

1.03pm: More on goalkeepers being subbed during a game for non-injury reasons. This from David Harding: "On goalkeepers, Rob, didn't England once get rid of Jimmy Rimmer at half-time when they were losing in a friendly against Italy? Not sure if it was because he was crap, but they were losing 2-0 when he was substituted and ended up winning 3-2. He never pulled on the proud jersey again. I also remember watching the highlights as a young lad on World of Sport." That would have been in the bicentennial tournament in 1976, David, when the also played a US all-star XI including Pele and Bobby Moore. England wore a hideous yellow kit in one of those games if I recall correctly. And here's David Harding: "Could I add in an example of a goalie being hauled off at half-time due to poor performance despite having kept a clean sheet? Back in 1995, Jim Smith decided Steve Sutton's performance at Bramall Lane wasn't up to scratch and replaced him with Russell Hoult, despite Derby being 1-0 up at the time. Sutton never played for Derby again." Thanks to both. Sky are doing best Manchester United XIs under Ferguson from their Soccer Saturday experts. Any nominations for the worst XI? In other news Kevin Prince-Boateng has retired from international football at the age of 24 and Glenn Loovens is out of Celtic's team to play Motherwell with hamstring knack.

1.09pm: Thank the lord for Jamie Jackson, our man on the Arsenal beat. "Arsène Wenger, asked about SAF's 25-years at Old Trafford, says: no-one will ever do it again at the top level," he writes. "Asked if he might not do it the Frenchman joked: 'That would mean another 10 years. I am happy to have a good season this year.' Wenger also confirmed that Robin van Persie will start against West Bromwich Albion: 'He was just very tired after Chelsea. on Tuesday the question was do I play him an hour and take him off or put him on in the last half an hour if needed. I chose the second option. The negative is that we didn't win, the positive is that he didn't get injured.' Abou Diaby is 'three weeks away' from a return."

1.31pm: Courtesy of Jamie Jackson, the Professor turns his thoughts to the Baggies: "For us it is of course a vital game tomorrow. We are coming back into a better position in the league. We feel at home we are managing to win games and we want to continue to do that. What was important at Chelsea was that we won a big game, which is important for confidence." Elsewhere Roberto Martínez believes that Hugo Rodallega has finally shrugged off his Copa America exhaustion and is ready to spark into form. And Swansea are preparing for their first visit to Anfield since that 8-0 defeat 21 years ago with Angel Rangel fairly bullish. "We have confidence and we go there with no fear," he says. "We respect them as we are playing a top five team, but if we start like we did at Wolves, with the winning mentality, hopefully we can start well and settle quickly into our passing style. It is still early days but we are mid-table and we want the three points."

1.42pm: Here's Sir Alex Ferguson's first selection as manager of Manchester United, the 2-0 defeat by Oxford at the Manor: Turner; Duxbury, Hogg, Moran, Albiston; Blackmore, McGrath, Moses, Barnes; Stapleton, Davenport. Sub: Olsen. I thought Remi Moses would go on and play for England, tenacious little so and so, but the injuries got him before he could fulfil his promise.

1.57pm: Poor Neil Warnock had it tough. He had to pay to have his teeth taken away when he was a child. "We used to put a pound under our pillows for the tooth fairy," he just said underlining his happiness in the deployment of the word "fairy". Glass of Château de Chasselay, Neil? Kieron Dyer may be ready to make his QPR comeback against Man City but Shaun Derry, Akos Buzsaky and DJ Campbell are all out.

2.12pm: I worked in an office back in 1991 for a few months as a temp in a job I didn't understand. I was working alongside some veteran ex-coppers. Every Friday our department would adjourn to the pub at noon till 3pm closing and we'd have six pints, then return to our desks. It seemed common practice for a Friday lunchtime session back then, before pubs opened all day. Does anyone still do it?

2.21pm: "I'm off Uni today and have spent most of the day lying round watching Sky Sports News and two things have come to my attention, writes Anthony Reardon. "Is Owen Coyle under contract to always refer to the Premier League as the 'Barclays Premier League'? And why does Kenny Dalglish keep calling Suarez, 'Louise'?" Loads of managers have started BPL-ing it recently, presumably having been sent a circular. As for Kenny's pronunciation, he's a massive Phil Oakey fan.

2.36pm: There's not much news to report I'm afraid. Ryan Dunne has had his illusions shattered: "Re: lunchtime drinking. You mean to say that all the Guardian sportsdesk don't get to write and file their copy on languid afternoon bevvying sessions!? I can't be the only reader disappointed at such a shattering of illusions! Next you'll be saying that the Guardian offices aren't, a la Google and Pixar, full of 80s arcade games and Nerf guns." Sadly not. No one even has punch ups any more. The old tradecraft is dead and gone. If you've got time on your hands you could do considerably worse than spend it reading this piece on Derby from the reliably excellent Swiss Rambler.

2.55pm: That's it from me for now. I'll leave you in Paul Doyle's capable hands. Thanks for your emails.

3.36pm: Louise Taylor has had a chat with one of the finest midfielders in the Premier League at the moment. And here's what Yohan Cabaye told her.

3.47pm: It seems there is international football next week beyond England's defeat by Spain. There's also some Euro 2012 play-off thingys. And Portugal have named their squad for what promises to be a belting tie with Bosnia-Herzevogina. Big news is that the Real Madrid pair of Pepe and Fabio Coentrao are fit again.

4.05pm: Alex McLeish reckons Aston Villa need to hone their mentality. He says Villa will win more matches if they attack well and defend well. Now do you understand why he got the job?

But I am a bit frustrated with the league table. I think we should be four points better off, at least. That's down to that ruthlessness and mental toughness to see things through and get that strength to go over the line in certain moments ...I want the guys to have a real winning mentality. I want them to go to the end every game, every week and we also want to attack teams but it's not a compromise between attack and defend. There has been a 50-50 measure. We want to be equally good defensively. Teams that don't lose goals are normally the teams that triumph in the end.

4.08pm: I don't understand this but in the absence of any better emails from you lot I'm going to have to assume it's a witty cultural reference. "It's pretty incredible that Portugal are still selecting the lead singer of the Strokes to play up front for them!" exclaims Brian Cloughley before making a point that I do grasp: "So many world class players over the last 20 years but no decent strikers."

4.11pm: I'm sorry, but this is preposterous: folks on these pages constantly bemoan the state of British football but WOULD YOU JUST LOOK AT THE STATE OF BRITISH ART, at least as represented by this sorry collection. I'm no expert but on that evidence the art establishment is truly rotten.

4.21pm: OK, now that I've recovered from the astonishing lameness of (most of ) those offerings from Britain's leading artists, it's time to make some predictions for the weekend ahead. Obviously the form guide tells us that at least one match is going to end 7-5 or something but I'll be deuced if I can guess which. So here's what I foresee. How about you?

4.26pm: It seems I am not the only one shocked, appalled and amused by how bad those Olympics pictures are. "Ahahahahahahahaha," cackles Sean Kinnear in an email all the way from the USA. "The Swimming is outstanding in its absolute rubbishness. Blue paint and a paintbrush tied to a dogs tail put onto canvas."

4.28pm: Sorry, it seems you, like I, just can't let this one lie. "I have to agree with you about the state of British Art," fumes Ian Burch. "Most of them wouldn't make the Vision On gallery. Tony Hart will be spinning in his grave."

4.30pm: Right, back to the football. Word is Danny Murphy is unlikely to feature for Fulham this weekend because of of a slight knee worry. Meanwhile in Scotland, Hearts' players have at last been paid, according to PA.

Hearts' players today received their overdue wages, Press Association Sport understands.Senior squad members at the club today received their monthly income which had been due on October 16. The news comes 24 hours after the squad were persuaded not to make a formal complaint to the Scottish Premier League by manager Paulo Sergio.It is understood the players were ready to sign a letter of complaint addressed to SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster, asking him to intervene in the matter and with the possibility of invoking FIFA Article 14 for breach of contract with just cause.Sergio asked them to bide their time and now the players, who play St Mirren in Paisley tomorrow, have been paid for the first time since mid-September.

4.52pm: We're going to wrap this up now. But first I'd like to thank you for reading. If you didn't read it, well, perhaps Aberdeen striker Darren Mackie can convince you of the merits of reading. He, according to this, is a "reading champion" in Scotland and appeared at a school to tell kids why reading is great. He began promisingly with "I don't read books" before moving on to the superb: "My favourite book is Lord of the Rings although I haven't read the book."